Dither

I don't think it's certain blocks being released at different times, i think it's just that all the ones they had at the time were all released at the beginning and they're all already sold out, as room reservations have been available since August 2008 (that's likely why you couldn't get your hotel of choice... I booked 2 days after Otakon 2008, and the new attached Hilton Convention Center was already long gone, I was lucky to get the Holiday Inn Inner Harbor)... this late in the game, you're lucky to get anything, really...